Child Soldiers

Around the world, an estimated 250,000 children—some as young as 7—are involved in armed conflicts. Children are exploited in state-run armies, paramilitaries, and rebel groups. Coerced, enticed or abducted, these children serve as combatants, porters, spies, human mine detectors and sex slaves; their health and lives are endangered and their childhoods are sacrificed.

Through a loophole in the 2008 Child Soldier Prevention Act, the Obama administration is opting to issue waivers to some offending countries rather than hold them accountable for actively recruiting or using children in their armed forces.

Today the U.S. released the list of countries that will lose military assistance in 2015 because of their use of child soldiers. However, military aid to continue to flow to some countries actively recruiting or using children in their armed forces.

As news breaks about airstrikes in Syria, World Vision is gravely concerned about the impact of the Syrian crisis on a generation of children. 1.5 million children have now fled Syria. Twice that number remain, many under direct threat of violence.

Testimony of Jesse Eaves, Senior Policy Advisor for Child Protection, World Vision U.S., before the U.S. House of Representatives: Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Hearing on Ending the Use of Child Soldiers, September 19, 2014.

World Vision is urging world leaders not to forget the ongoing suffering of children caused by the Syrian conflict, as refugee numbers surpassed 3 million Friday in what the UN is calling “the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era.”